The Projective Church

Senior Thesis Project

Identifying Vernon’s industrial fabric as a local field condition, the church’s form and its relationships to liturgy offers an opportunity to explore and rethink the contrasts and contradictions of the conventional institutional form. Using the technique of the mash-up, church pieces are exploded and reconfigured, suggesting new definitions of “parts” and the relationships between them. This process yields an architecture not invested in certainty or clarity, but rather an architectural ambiguity that integrates multiplicity into unity.

The Spectacle of Nakedness

In Collaboration with Kyat Chin & Jacklin Lee

The “Spectacle of the Nakedness” design proposal serves to explore West Hollywood’s key characteristic: the desire to see and be seen. The site is located adjacent to West Hollywood Park between Robertson Ln. and La Peer Dr. intersect by Santa Monica Blvd. The project aims to create a layered performance space: a place of spectacle and “frisson”. The design of this project allows hotel guests, office workers, and shoppers to be captivated by the bodies of bathers. The bathhouse is central to the history of West Hollywood. Unfortunately these bathhouses have been replaced by high-end retail and luxury apartments. This is a real loss to the culture of West Hollywood. This project is an opportunity to bring the bathhouse back.

H[e]art Winery

In Temecula, Ca lies the H[e]art Winery and Wedding Venue. The winery takes advantage of its hilly site to create distinct venues for weddings and other celebrations. The winery has a distinct connection to its site and program, for its main concept is the landscape concrete wall that organically wraps around the building. The wall represents the continuation of nature, as well as reinterpreting the architecture into a landform project. The winery and wedding venue programs exist in two bar schemes, yet overlap in some instances since each program offers a unique opportunity for the other. Wedding guests may use the winery’s barrel room to host an intimate wedding reception, while the open plan wedding hall hosts events for the wine community.

Taj Mahal Et Al

Critic: Frank Clementi

Built in 1648 by Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal stands as the monument for true and enduring love. The mausoleum was built as a symbol of the Shah’s eternal love for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, proceeding her death. What most do not know about this love story is that the Shah actually had 8 other wives. Thus, in this proposal, the Taj Mahal will focus on and be dedicated back to the other wives. By moving them back onto the site, the Taj will function as a love hotel, aimed at exploring other forms of love. In their honor, eight precedent rooms were created, House[s] of: Yearning, Broken Relationships, Courting, Glorious One-Night Stands, Narcissists, Earthly Pleasures, Lost Relationships. Each serving their own functions, the houses aim to: ponder, fix, consummate, explore, engage, indulge, and rekindle relationships. The Taj thus becomes a love nest; a place for rendezvous; a 3rd space, where the public comes for a private meeting.

Perceptions

Inspired by LA Design Festival’s 2018 theme “Design is for Everyone”, the “Perceptions“ series explores how multiple users experience the same space.

The proposed space is a church, a place accessible by all, while the users are defined by the famed “Myer-Briggs” psychology test. The test defines 16 personalitity types that most people identify with. Each drawing depicts a different personality type and their intrepretation of the church. Thus, as the personality changes, so does the drawing and its method of representation. Readers are ultimately asked to find themselves within the set.

The “Perceptions” series was displayed at the A+D Museum for a one-night event sponsored by DOPIUM.LA and the LA Design Festival.